This is a four-year project funded by USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) with the award #2024-77040-43102.

Program Flyer

We are starting to recruit students to this program. Please find the Recruitment Flyer above.

• Undergraduate Students: Stipends with Summer training program
• Graduate Students: Stipends with year-long training program

Project Title: Collaborative Education and Research in Micro-Nano-Plastics to Train a Diverse and Talented Workforce for Sustainable Agriculture

Project Directors: Jianhong Ren, Professor, Department of Environmental Engineering, TAMUK

Co-Project Directors:
Hua Li, Professor, Department of Mechanical & Industrial Engineering, TAMUK
Veronica Ancona, Associate Professor, TAMUK Citrus Center
Christine Robbins, Associate Professor, Anthropology, TAMUK
Xingmao Ma, Associate Professor, Civil & Environmental Engineering, TAMU
Aaron Packman, Professor, Civil and Environmental Engineering, Northwestern University (NU)
Vinayak P Dravid, Professor, Materials Science & Engineering, NU

Project’s Degree Level: B.S., M.S., and Ph.D.

Project Summary:

Agriculture plays a vital role in sustaining food security and supporting rural communities’ economy. Recently, an emerging group of contaminants, micro-nano-plastics (MNPs), have attracted significant attention due to their potentially negative impact on human health and food safety. To address this challenge, a diverse workforce and researchers with specialized technical competency, and leadership, professional, and social skills, are needed. This project will train underrepresented minority (URM) students through collaboration between two Hispanic Serving Institutions (HSIs) and an elite research institution. The goal of the project is to develop a student-centered, integrated educational model to train a highly diverse and talented workforce from URM communities, especially Hispanic communities, to address the emerging concern of MNPs. The integrated educational program will include 1) multidisciplinary curricula to introduce key topics related to MNPs and sustainable agriculture, 2) hands-on activities to help students develop skills in advanced instrumentation, laboratory techniques, and data analysis, 3) opportunities for direct interactions with leading scientists, peer trainees, and USDA professionals, 4) active student involvement in collaborative research, and 5) dedicated leadership, professional skills, and social awareness workshops/courses and applied community engagement projects to provide comprehensive core competency training. The project will build upon the expertise, facilities, and shared commitment to equity among the collaborating institutions and support and train at least 15 B.S., 9 M.S., and 2 Ph.D. students. The training model and scientific advances will be shared with the scientific community to help develop a diverse and urgently needed workforce to address the challenge of MNPs faced by the food and agricultural industries.